


if blue team lost

by tsuluio



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Angst, Character Development, Character Study, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, rider has anger issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 07:01:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21095342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuluio/pseuds/tsuluio
Summary: Sometimes things don't work out the way you want it to.





	if blue team lost

**Author's Note:**

> this is a build up of all the salt i have for coroika rn bc how the fuck does goggles even befriend people by defeating and pantsing them??? if anything thatd make everyone more mad.
> 
> i'll be taking requests for which character arcs to write for this au...? this is mostly to combat my writer's block rn

The universe isn't having it today. Physics defied, reality screwed, this was the day the universe said fuck it. This was also the day Blue Team lost to Rider.

That Inkstrike landed perfectly on Goggles. The Triple Inkstrike wiped out the entire Blue Team. Yellow Green Team won. There is nothing else to tell. 

Except there is.

They say people can change, that people can adapt to their surroundings after experiencing certain emotions to spur them to action. It's true, all of it. 

Blue Team lost their first battle, signaling the end of a possible catalyst, but also introducing a beginning. The beginning of change for everyone.

\--

He won, he won, he _won to a bunch of fucking idiots._ It wasn't anything to be proud of, but they wasted a single Inkstrike on that blue idiot and the Triple Inkstrike worked in every way he planned it to. 

Total team wipe. Nothing but the best.

He turns to his team to tell them good job, but then thinks better of it. There'd be no point. They literally did nothing. Not to mention that Stealth looks close to passing out from eye contact, Bamboo seems to be avoiding his gaze, and Blazer is hunched into a tiny ball. They look pitiful, and some part deep inside Rider twists with discomfort before he shoves the unnatural feeling away.

"We won. Meet you back in time for the next match here. Don't be late." The words are said almost robotically, angrily even. He holds anger in almost everything he does now, and it'd be concerning it's such a huge part of who he is, but he can't bring himself to care.

No. He doesn't care. At all.

Stealth flinches at the words, mumbles something incoherently and practically trips over himself to run off. Blazer inches away before darting across the Plaza, Bamboo following close behind. Rider is left alone within the matter of seconds. It doesn't bother him. He's been alone for as long as he can remember, ever since he's made the sudden realization that teammates _suck_. He can't trust them with the back end of the gun, in which he's actually seen some idiots try to shoot ink from the wrong side, only to hit themselves in the face. He had laughed then, more out of a need to act like he feels something other than disgust for the newbies, but the truth is there, clear and simple. 

He can't trust anyone.

He's been alone since the beginning, his parents, his friends, everything.

_You drove them away, _the horrid voice in his head tells him, all smirks and bluster. _You made yourself like this._

_Shut up_, he tells himself and the voice retreats, slithering into the depths of his mind, a smile he never sees traveling further into his consciousness. It's not gone, not really. It never goes away, as far as he knows, so he just has to deal with it on top of terrible teammates.

_But_, the voice comes back, stronger than ever, _these teammates aren't terrible, are they? They've stuck around enough, and listen very well._

He ignores the voice and walks away.

\--

_Win. Win. Win. There's no point if you don't win._

Countless mantras drill themselves into Army's mind, enforcing them to reality. You win if you record things, record things so you can predict them, the nature of attacks and defense so easily, it's counterable from the very beginning. His team advances to the next round. And the next.

And they face Rider.

The man is an absolute wreck on the field, his dynamo swinging mercilessly, taking down more than half of the team in a single blow.

"Spread out!" Army orders his teammates, and they comply. Their manual has the exact calculations of a dynamo's flick range and they manage to stay out of it until Sailor Blue snipes the roller main in the chest. 

He goes down with an angry yell. His teammates cower in the aftermath. Army tsks. No point in having a team that fears their leader.

The Inkstrike Reserve is dumb. He knows enough vocabulary to belittle the move, but dumb is the only answer that can come to mind right now. Why waste your teammates' potential on something as little as inking turf to pop Specials? It's stupid, is what it is, and Rider cannot seriously be expected to win every turf war like this. His team will flake on him. Or faint from being yelled at so much. That, Army is sure of.

But they lose, they lose, and winning is best. They lose and Army is fine with it. Even if Rider growls in anger — or is it happiness — and stomps around and gives everyone twenty heart attacks, Army is satisfied. 

Rider will learn. Someday.

\--

Aloha's had issues with his team before, issues he oh so casually ignores because it doesn't really concern him.

_Or does it? They could be laughing at you behind your back and you wouldn't even know it_.

Maybe Scuba takes one too far, or Straw ends up spilling more than half her coffee across the clean tiled floors, or Octoglasses forces everyone into one more round of DDR when it's two am and all Aloha wants to do is sleep. But they're his team, they get along well, and it's perfect chemistry between the four of them. No question to it.

And, besides, whatever chemistry they lack, Rider's team lacks even more. He witnesses Mr. Edgy scolding them for whatever they messed up lately and Aloha knows more than enough of actual teamwork to recognize that his team won't take that well. They cower, shake, apologize -- well, the one with the stealth goggles apologizes a lot more than the others -- and Rider seems satisfied enough to stomp away.

Scuba whistles in awe, so sudden that Aloha didn't even realize he was there before. He needs to pay more attention to his surroundings, which is ironic since their team's whole gimmick is paying too much attention to their surroundings, but Scuba's here nevertheless. "That guy's got his work to blame," he says casually, and Aloha shrugs, watching the other three yellow-green Inklings help each other, comfort each other in the aftermath. He's heard rumors of the infamous Inkstrike Reserve, that Rider doesn't even take his team into account for any battle they play.

"Rider's so dumb," Scuba continues, and Aloha glances over at his best friend, watching the way the light reflects across the other's cod-awful mask, losing his eyes to the glare of the sun. "His team's gonna bail."

"How much for that?" Aloha asks with a grin and Scuba snorts. 

"All my money, man. All of it."

Aloha smiles, but doesn't take the bait. He knows too, and despite Scuba's own moron qualities at some point or another, whatever his co-captain just said was one-hundred percent true. 

Rider's team is doomed to fail. Either by lack of teamwork or lack of team, he doesn't know, and he's not going to wait around to find out.

"We gonna fight them already?" The brackets are wacky. They should've been fighting Army, who won the match, but maybe Rider bribed some official to let them back in because they're paired off together.

"Seems like it."

Aloha hums, watching the remains of Rider's team drift off to their own path before turning around. "Well then. Let's go give them a show."

\--

Rider can feel his team falling apart. Whatever. 

It's his job to keep them glued together, but he always finds himself alone. Always. Like the good times, anyway, when he didn't have to worry about a team.

_But maybe he likes to worry about him? It's better than those intruding thoughts when he's by himself at night._

The Inkstrike Reserve is doing okay, despite his lack of care. He carries the team. The victories are his and his alone.

Aloha is an interesting opponent, most likely due to being the complete opposite of Army. No rules, no practice, nothing. 

And the _dancing_. The horrible, useless dancing. It's annoying, and Rider finds himself actually having to aim with his roller, missing most of the time while the pink Inklings jeer at him.

"You actually gotta aim, Rider!" Aloha calls, laughing, and Rider seethes in anger. "No use swinging your weapon and everyone just dying, yeah?"

"Shut up," he growls, and his next flick reaches Aloha, the other flipping over the strike. 

"Close~~"

Stealth gets overrun by both Scuba and Octoglasses. 

_Useless_.

Bamboo, without proper support from Stealth, goes down to Straw.

_Worthless_.

Blazer's the only one left on the field and there's no time before she could get splatted again. Both of their Specials are active.

"Pop your Inkstrike!" he yells at her.

She blanches. "B-but--"

_Stupid_.

"No buts!" Cod, he doesn't have _time_ for this! He pops his Special, aiming it for the center of Pink Team's strange Disco Ball Dance. "Do it!"

The last words end in a roar and she squeaks in terror, the Special popping too quickly for him to feel guilty, and two Inkstrikes tear through the middle of the stage.

All four, despite their dodging abilities, are unable to clear the double Special's range.

Stealth and Bamboo respawn, and they immediately start to ink turf, while Rider watches Pink Team.

Three of them take a seat at the edge of their spawn, saying something to Aloha, who looks annoyed, but after he glances to Rider, the annoyance turns to a smirk and he sits next to his teammates, waving down to Yellow-Green Team.

"Good job on your win, Rider!" he calls, and Rider has two seconds to be suspicious before the timer is up. The game is over.

And they _won_.

No. _He_ won. No one else.

\--

Aloha's laughing as they exit the lobby. That game was just _too good_. Sure, they lost, but he doesn't really care. He's more interested in seeing how this plays out.

"You better not just stop in the middle of an actual game," he tells Scuba, and his friend raises an eyebrow, grinning.

"Wouldn't dream of it, man."

Aloha gets the feeling that his friend isn't entirely telling the truth, but he brushes it off. 

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

\--

Mask can't believe Rider's team got this far. They're not exactly a happy bunch, which is fine by him, but this is going a bit too much. Rider's constant yelling and ordering gets on his nerves more than he likes to admit.

Plus, no teammates should be treated by their leader like that, anyway. He may be cynical, but he isn't _that_ mean.

Aloha didn't fill him in on any plans as to why he lost, but Mask gets the gist of it. That party animal wants to see the show that Rider'll put up with his poor excuse of a team. Mask is sure that they'll bail. No other Inklings in their right mind wouldn't. 

Still.

The battle is interesting. He watches from afar, throwing in the occasional Seeker, but doing nothing else otherwise. His teammates flank him, holding his back. Rider spends almost the entire battle scowling, yelling at his team, or firing his Inkstrike. That's literally it.

It's pathetic, really. Kinda sad too. Compared to Rider's team? Cyan Team are the happiest squids in the city.

\--

He feels a bit bad for treating his team so badly lately. They're up against Skull now, and he feels somewhat annoyed that they've made it this far. He's the one doing all the work, after all, and each battle felt way to easy. 

Or maybe he was just too good.

That could also be an option.

Semifinals aren't really his problem anyway. He has to get his team in line--

_They haven't done anything wrong._

But they weren't doing their jobs--

_Because you won't let them._

He growls and swipes at the table in front of him, watching his cup splatter its contents across the concrete. People are staring at him, and he just turns away. Shame bubbles inside him before he pushes it away. He has to stay _focused_. No distractions.

"Rider?" He spins around and Stealth flinches away from him. Guilt stabs him in the gut but he glares at the other Inkling. 

"What?"

"I-I just wanted to say--" He stops talking, breath stuttering, and Blazer and Bamboo quickly step up next to him, expression unreadable. Rider has a feeling that something bad is going to happen, but he makes himself stand his ground. What the shell could they possibly do to him?

"Say what, Stealth?" He unintentionally lowers his voice slightly and Stealth looks briefly surprised before swallowing hard.

"I j-just--"

Blazer reaches up and grasps one of the second-in-command's shoulders, and Stealth seems to find his voice again.

"I just w-wanted to say. The three of us? W-We quit."

\--

Across Inkopolis, everyone can feel the ground shake in Rider's rage and mentally prepare themselves for whatever's coming.

\--

Army knew this was going to happen, but the prospect of it versus the actual thing happening are two different things. 

He's never seen Rider so angry, and he tactfully retreats to his team base, while the world shakes outside.

\--

Aloha wouldn't put it past Rider to murder anyone within Dynamo range, not that the yellow-green Inkling could hit the party animal to begin with, but something inside him feels slightly bad for the other.

Nothing like having your team abandon you, even if you were ultimately the cause of it.

But it's not his problem, anyway. He's not responsible for keeping Rider under wraps because the only one who could do that was Rider himself.

And with that rare moment of wisdom, he calls his team together and tells them they should throw another party next week.

\--

Mask doesn't care if Rider's team abandons him or not. It's not part of his life, and it doesn't affect him. He burrows into his team base, his team following behind him into the fluorescent-lit, cheeto-puff-filled abyss. 

—

His team quits and Rider should feel relieved, relieved that he no longer has to put up with them. 

And in a way, he is. 

But a part of him is upset, stressed, angry, because it was _right_ before semifinals and he has no time to gather another team. 

And maybe, just maybe, he misses them. 

He misses them hanging around the base, misses them chattering quietly as so not to disturb their leader, misses their presence in battle. But he's sure they don't miss him. They don't miss him at all. Right?

He was horrible to them, he realizes that now. He tormented them, intimidated them, and overall just a terrible leader. What kind of team captain makes his team members so scared of him they can't cooperate?

An incompetent one, really. His teammates weren't the problem. _He _was_._

_You should apologize to them_.

For once, Rider listens to his rational side.

_Finally._

It's not hard to track down Stealth, partly because the other tended to hand around Ammo Knights a lot. Rider finds him in the training area, talking with Bamboo and Blazer, all three turning in barely concealed terror at his presence.

He doesn't allow them to speak.

"Look. I know I've been a shitty team captain, and I think that was partly because I never really understood was a team was for. I'm really sorry for my actions, and I don't expect you to forgive me or join the team again, but I just wanted to, y'know, say it." He spins on his heel to leave, the tight feeling in his chest slightly looser. He barely takes a single step before Blazer calls him back.

"Rider?"

"What?" He bites back the frustration in his tone and manages to calm it. She looks vaguely surprised, but pleased at his voice and smiles at him.

"We'll join your team again!"

\--

Skull watches Rider enter the field through spawn, a slight smile under his bandanna. The yellow-green Inkling has learned a lot, he knows that much. His team has thankfully been spared from the Dynamo main's rage more than not because they're part of the _S4_ for cod's sake, but Skull knows that Rider's team wouldn't stand being the targets of the anger for much longer.

And in the end, he's glad for it. 

Now there won't be anything standing in between their battle. He's been looking forward to this for a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are appreciated!!


End file.
